Babblings of the Southwest

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Recently we had the chance to eat at a well known establishment in central Phoenix. Hana Japanese Eatery is tucked away into a small strip mall along 7th Avenue.

Thankfully, we go there just in time because the restaurant filled up quickly after we got there. Hana isn’t very large. It’s got about 20 tables in it and the sushi bar. Upon walking into the restaurant, you can tell that this is a local establishment well loved by its patrons. The hostess greeted people with familiarity. Several people were conversing with the sushi chef at the counter.

The menu had a good amount of variety for being such a small place. You can get everything from the standard pieces of nigiri to bowls of filling ramen. Thankfully, Sean and I met up with 2 other friends when we went which meant we got a nice variety of food to try out. Amongst our orders were the
Yakibuta Ramen,
nigiri,
Hana Tempura,
Hana Bento and a couple of their specialty rolls.

The service was actually pretty good even if they were very busy from the moment we walked in. Our teas and waters were kept filled. Food was brought out promptly. Everything was fresh, so you knew that none of our dishes had been sitting in the kitchen for too long. The food was delicious. I got the ramen because bowls of ramen are like chicken noodle soup. They’re soul comforting and this definitely hit the spot. The roasted pork in my soup was very tender and perfectly cooked. The tempura that one of our friends got was crispy with just the smallest coating of tempura batter so that you could still enjoy the vegetable itself. They didn’t just use the standard set of boring vegetables in their tempura. There were a few we actually had to think on what they were. I’ll never turn down a tempura fried carrot again. Sean’s bento box was the perfect amount of food considering the variety that he had. All of us left pleasantly full without being stuffed which is always a plus in my book. The staff also didn’t try to rush us out the door once we were finished and had paid our bill which was great since we wanted to catch up with our friends.

Overall, Hana Japanese Eatery is a great restaurant with good food and good staff. I’m looking forward to getting another chance to eat there.